Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Day One
Heavyweight V8 Earns Final Semifinal Spot, Will Face Familiar Foes Friday
June 03, 2010 | Heavyweight Rowing
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Head coach Greg Hughes was probably looking for a less dramatic start to the 2010 IRA national championships, but his top three boats all accomplished their first mission in the end. All three moved into Friday's semifinals, though the fourth-ranked varsity eight needed two races to earn the final spot.
The varsity eight knew it would have a difficult opening heat, especially with EARC champion Harvard beginning one lane over from the fourth-ranked Tigers. Princeton was also facing a Columbia boat it defeated by a narrow margin during Childs Cup weekend in early April.
Those three crews knew each other quite well, but Boston University also got into the mix. Slightly more than two seconds separated the four crews when they crossed the finish line, with Harvard taking the top spot in 5:34.62. Both Columbia and Princeton managed to move away from a tough B.U. squad, and less than half a second would be the difference for the two Ivy squads.
Unlike the Childs Cup, though, the edge went to Columbia. The Lions earned a direct ticket to the semifinals by finishing in 5:35.05, while Princeton finished third in 5:35.47.
Princeton didn't have it easy in the second repechage, which featured the fifth-ranked Brown Bears and the 10th-ranked Syracuse Orange. The Tigers needed a top-three finish to advance to the semifinals, and with those two strong boats in the field, Princeton knew it had little margin for error.
Both Brown and Syracuse would take the first two semifinal spots, finishing in 5:37.60 and 5:39.93, respectively. Both Oregon State and Jacksonville were out of the mix by the end, which left Princeton and 13th-ranked Navy to compete for the 12th and final position in the IRA semifinals.
Princeton managed to advance, placing third in 5:41.12, while Navy finished fourth in 5:44.11. Ironically, the third-place finish left the Tigers in an all-Ivy League semifinal at 12:30 p.m. Friday. Princeton will be in lane six and competing against Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale and Brown. During the regular season, Princeton defeated Cornell and lost to both Yale and Brown in close finishes. Princeton placed second to Harvard in the EARC championships, though that deficit was only 2.5 seconds; in that same race, Princeton beat both Brown and Dartmouth.
The Princeton 2V and novice eight both took direct routes to Friday's semifinals. The 2V needed a top-three finish in its five-boat competition, and it did so by topping two Ivy rivals by a comfortable margin. Washington, the likely favorite for the varsity eight national title, won the heat in 5:41.44, while Harvard took second in 5:46.66. Princeton finished third in 5:50.19, but was not being pushed for a semifinal spot. Neither Columbia nor Dartmouth was within 13 seconds of the Tigers for third place.
The novice eight also had a comfortable qualifying margin, although it needed a top-two finish to avoid a repechage. The California novice eight won the heat in 5:40.97, but Princeton topped the next closest boat, Brown, by nearly 10 seconds and finished second in 5:44.08. The novice eight is coming off an impressive showing at Eastern Sprints, where it finished second and provided a strong challenge to an undefeated Harvard crew.